Emergency response personal, such as 911 emergency dispatch centers, police, fire, EMS, subway systems, etc., must be able to communicate effectively, especially during times of an emergency. There are a variety of prior art systems available that allow for such communication, however, such systems are not robust to system failure. Additionally, such systems typically require a complex configuration that typically requires an external or separate computer to operate.
A major problem with prior art emergency communication systems is that they do not typically provide for sufficient backup in the case of critical component failure. As a result, communications between such systems may be significantly affected by, and may not be operable during, the occurrence of emergency events. As an example, it is standard for prior art systems to utilize only one repeater per communications channel. Similarly, it is standard for prior art systems to be operable only on one communications network. If a fire or other catastrophic event were to destroy that repeater or communication network, however, then the ability for emergency response personnel to effectively communicate would be lost.
Another problem with prior art communication systems is that they do not contain a recorder unit that allows for emergency response personnel to quickly diagnose the situation. Such recorder units require the emergency response personnel to stop the recording in order to play back messages. Such units also require the emergency response personnel to navigate complicated controls to rewind tapes for imprecise amounts of time.